Jose Abreu officially signed

In a press conference today, Rick Hahn finally announced the signing of Jose Abreu to the Chicago White Sox. The six years and $68 million earlier reported was correct. As for the details, it includes a $10 million signing bonus, $7 million in 2014 and 2015, $10 million in 2016, $10.5 million in 2017, $11.5 million in 2018 and $12 million in 2019.

Rick Hahn began the press conference discussing the signing describing Abreu as "a very high priority target" since the middle of last season.  This was partially due to the lack of power hitting available as free agents and at the "very high" levels of the White Sox minor league system.  Also, the White Sox are looking at him to be more than just a power hitter, saying "The entire package is what appealed to us."

Along with the scouting done by Marco Paddy and Kenny Williams trip to the Dominican Republic to watch Abreu's showcase, Alexei Ramirez came in as a reference as well, having played with Abreu at some point in Cuba.

Finally, Hahn mentioned that they know we were not just one player away so "this is not all on Jose" for getting better for the 2014 season.

After the announcement, there was a Q&A with Hahn and Abreu.  In case you were wondering, he will be wearing No. 79.